or supplement petroleum-derived fuels. For example, undecene, butanol, and
isopentanol are consistently observed inPseudomonassp. 1-Undecene is particu-
larly fascinating due to its superior physical properties, which may receive a direct
application as a fuel (Rui et al. 2014 ).
11.7 Potential of MVOCs for Applications in Agriculture
The list of VOC produced by many endophytic microorganisms and their effect on
interacting organisms is summarized in Table11.2. Several rhizobacterial species
enhanced and regulate the growth of plants, impart resistance against abiotic and
biotic stresses through volatile-mediated compounds and exhibit their potential in
biocontrol. TheB. amyloliquefaciens-borne volatile 2,3-butanediol mediates the
growth promotion and ISR againstE. carotovorainA. thaliana(Ryu et al. 2004 ;
Farag et al. 2006 ;). Several strains ofBacillusisolated from rhizosphere of lemon
plants facilitate the growth and root architecture ofA. thalianaby VOC production
(Gutierrez-Luna et al. 2010 ). It has been also shown thatSerratia plymuthicaand
Stenotrophomonas maltophiliaborne volatile had negative consequences on the
growth of model plant Arabidopsis thaliana (Wenke and Piechulla 2013 ). Sensor
kinase GacS mediated synthesis of 2,3-butanediol inP. chlororaphisenhanced the
growth of tobacco and also imparted drought tolerance inA. thaliana. Among three
stereoisomers of 2,3-butanediol, only 2R,3R-butanediol was effective in plant
growth promotion suggesting the presence of specific receptors for this isomer in
plants (Han et al. 2006 ; Cho et al. 2008 ). Moreover, VOC produced by several
genera such as Burkholderia, Chromobacterium, Pseudomonas, Serratia, and
Stenotrophomonasmay have negative consequences on the plant growth and health
(Bailly and Weisskopf 2012 ).
EndophyticBacillusandPsuedomonasstrains are capable of species-specific
production of six volatile compounds such as dimethyltrisulfide, n-decanal, non-
anal, benzothiazole, cyclohexanol, and 2-ethyl-1-hexanol which completely inhibit
mycelial growth and sclerotial germination ofSclerotinia sclerotiorum(Bitas et al.
2013 ). A more extensive survey involving 1,018 bacterial isolates showed that
VOC from 328 isolates, which belong to families Alcaligenaceae, Bacillales,
Micrococcaceae, Rhizobiaceae, and Xanthomonadaceae, inhibited spore germina-
tion and mycelial growth of two nematicidal fungi. Seven VOC including acet-
amide, benzaldehyde, benzothiazole, 1-butanamine, 1-decene, methanamine, and
phenylacetaldehyde appear to play roles in fungistasis. Benzothiazole is the only
VOC that was found in both surveys, suggesting that different species produce
different VOC for fungistasis, antifungal activity of many compounds are target
specific, or a combination of both (Zou et al. 2007 ).
VOC emitted from the fruiting body ofPleurotus ostreatus(oyster mushroom)
such as 1-octanol, 3-octanol, 3-octanone, 1-octen-3-ol, benzoic acid, and ben-
zaldehyde inhibited the growth of several bacterial species (Beltran-Garcia et al.
11 Harnessing Endophytic Microbial Volatile Organic Compound... 247